Stereotypes in Gertrude Stein's Three Lives Essay

Stereotypes in Gertrude Stein's Three Lives - Essay Example Hejinian’s says that Stein’s â€Å"dependency on names (nouns) tends to obscure experience by replacing what we experience with a reestablished concept.† This concept has been seen through Stein’s repetition throughout the novel. It is through the repetition of these norms, prejudices, and racism that Stein brings forth the absurdity of what the lower class and women are expected to be. The columniation of all these women in death shows that they all lead a life of suffering and pain despite being good, and that maybe norms should be reconsidered. In Melanctha we see how Dr. Campbell continues to have the same conversation with Melanctha over and over and through his repetition we see a dependency on adjectives and how they are subjective. Dr. Campbell continually uses the term â€Å"excited† to show how he expects colored people to act. He doesn’t feel that colored people should be acting all excited. His expectation of how colored people an d the lower class should behave is seen when he says, â€Å"I certainly do like everything to be good and quiet, and I certainly do think that it is the best way for us colored people.† This stereotype can be generalized to how all the lower class and middle class should act. ... For example, Dr, Campbell originally thinks that Melanctha is not good but thinks that Rose is good even though she is an alcoholic. He relates being good with not being excited but Rose gets excited from drinking. Therefore, he doesn’t really understand these norms that he is trying to follow, and the repetition of this word â€Å"excited† that he is not really sure about coincides with the fact that the reader should question norms because they don’t make sense and people often contradict themselves just as Dr. Campbell does. Other than the use of repetition, another way that the novel challenges stereotypes is by representing them in a realist perspective. It’s not trying to paint an idealistic picture of how life is at the time. Rather it is painting a very real picture of everyday life for three women. This picture is of their mundane everyday life. A major stereotype during the times of this novel (and even now) is that women should be responsible fo r taking care of the home and stay in shape. In the story of The Good Anna we see this stereotype is represented and talked about in a very realist way. The stereotype is strengthened by the good Anna believing that this is how it must be done, â€Å"A girl was a girl and should act always like a girl, both as to give all respect and as to what she had to eat.† There is a repetition throughout this story of the â€Å"right way for a girl to do.† Here the author plays on our preconceived idea about what is right for a girl and makes us question this stereotype not by idealizing it or playing it down, but by showing it to us in the light of what is really is. One can see that Stein, in her novellas, reproduces the typical feminine roles which are assigned to them by the

Greek history reading analyze in comparing character of Helen in two Essay

Greek history reading analyze in comparing character of Helen in two reading - Essay Example In this account, Helen is portrayed as a victim of circumstances who had no choice but to go with Paris and succumb to his every whim and demand in order to save her life. In the poem we see Helen "dressed herself in fine silvery linens and came out of her bedroom crying softly" when she heard of Menelaus' attack on Sparta clearly illustrating she had no alternative but to wait and see what the aftermath of the war will bring for her future. Later, talking to Paris's father, she says, "death should have been a sweeter evil to me" explaining that she should have taken her own life than yield to Paris's seizure. She incriminates herself by calling herself a "shameless bitch" for yielding to his demands. Furthermore, she is seen as very embarrassed to have had her family find her in a situation which she apparently had no choice. There are several colors to Helen's character that are portrayed in Homer's Iliad. She calls herself a "hateful wife" when she thinks of Menelaus winning her away from Paris. On Paris's return and eventual defeat in the Trojan War, Helen reproofs him by telling him he should have been killed by Menelaus, a "real hero" In the Iliad, Helen is represented as a prey plucked from her serene life with her husband and taken away by Paris to be subjected to subservience despite her many objections. She is shown to have compassion, guilt, love and even acceptance in the way she lives her life in Paris's kingdom awaiting her end. However, in Helen a play by Euripides, the playwright puts the theory that Helen was a victim of circumstances down and has something else to say. Helen is sought by Menelaus, a grieving husband, who wants to bring her to justice by killing her following the rumors that she went to Paris willingly and was not abducted after all. Hecuba, Paris's mother describes Helen as a woman who "captivates you with longing", "destroys cities" and "sets homes aflame". While Helen defends herself saying that she was bought and sold for her beauty and has been blameless even attempting to run away, Hecuba negates this by saying she should have hung herself if she was so desperate to get out. Helen states she was kept as a wife by her new husband "in defiance of the Trojans" and Hecuba negates that as well. She is characterized as a vicious and calculating woman who Hecuba states "saw my son in the splendor of gold" and "looked forward to a deluge of extravagance" while Helen says she grieves the death of the Trojans. This is a total contradiction to what the Homer states in the Iliad. Essentially, Helen has been depicted as the cause of the war between the Trojans and the Greeks whatever the truth may or may not have been. Homer too has treated Helen as a cause of war but also as a helpless victim of her celebrated beauty. There could be any number of reasons why Euripides depicted Helen in a negative light. Some scholars say that it is impossible for so many heads of states / cities to leave their work to go all the way to Troy to rescue a chit of a woman to whom they did not have much interest in except for her renowned beauty. At the time this story is placed, a lot of women and children were abducted and sold in slavery in Troy and it is thought by some scholars that this was the reason so many city heads brought about the Trojan War. This theory is followed by the hypothesis that Helen never existed! It was all a ply to put the Trojans down for their illegal slave trade. However, if